The Group has failed to improve its sales

Avendre. Three weeks after the publication of his eleventh consecutive quarterly loss, Palm seems to be resolved to seek a buyer to ensure its future. According to the Bloomberg Agency, manufacturer of mobile phones would have commissioned the bank Goldman Sachs and the society of the banker Franck Quattrone, Qatalyst Partners, to find a buyer.

The new has not frankly surprised the small world of telecoms. "There is no alternative to an assignment", said Francisco Jeronimo, analyst at IDC. "The Group has failed to improve its sales." Outside the United States, its mark is very little known. "It has sold only terminal up to 38,000 in the West in 2009, which is nothing for a major equipment manufacturer", he argued. The drama of Palm is linked to its small size, which does not give the right to the error. The pioneer of the electronic agendas weighs more than 870 million in stock. He must fight with HTC (capitalization $ 9.8 billion), Nokia (56 billion), Google (180 billion) and especially Apple (220 billion). These giants can flood the planet of their ads and their terminals. By contrast, Palm was forced to focus on exclusive partnerships with operators Sprint, Nextel in the USA and O2 in the United Kingdom.

But his gamble failed: from December to February, he found himself with more than 500,000 unsold phones on the arm. And a forecast of sales of $ 150 million for the current quarter, half of what anticipated market!

The concerns of Palm date back to 2007. The Group was taken by surprise by the madness of "smartphones" triggered by the iPhone. That never mind, Palm, which shares with the firm Apple integrated manufacturer culture where everything is "home made", the Terminal software, the trade has established its own operating system of "smartphone".

The American market

When its WebOS was presented to the public, in February 2009, analysts have predicted the return of the mark. After all, she has many fans. Las, it was effective without the aggressiveness of the iPhone but also of Android, the Google free operating system. They made the shadow to the Pre and to Pixie, models to resuscitate Palm - SFR also prepares to sell April 27 online and in store from May 11.

For potential acquirers, Palm is no shortage of assets. Its operating system all nine could interest ZTE or Huawei, Chinese manufacturers who have no own equivalent platform. It's mainly the way for them to enter the U.S. market. According to Bloomberg, computer manufacturer Lenovo, which bought its former mobile division assigned to funds in January, have already looked at the record for the sale of Palm. The Taiwanese HTC would have done the same. In the eyes of Francisco Jeronimo, it is one of the best candidates: "HTC is not as well established in the United States in Europe." The buyout of Palm would allow it to increase its sales by 30. "The Asian manufacturer is ready to spend a small billion for this Need a priori to fight, because candidates are likely to bully him. At a time where major computing converge in the mobile, HP, Dell, Compaq could guigner this target. They are more eager than Nokia, Microsoft, and RIM, who already have their own operating system.